Transcript of The Big Suey: The 10-Foot Pole New

Welcome to the Big Suey, presented by DraftKings.

Why are you listening to this show?

The podcast that seems very similar to the other Dan Lebitard podcast.

I'm sorry. I'm not going to apologize for that.

In fact, the only difference seems to be this imaging.

I have been tempted in restaurants just walking past tables to grab somebody's fries if they're just there.

That hasn't happened to you guys? I've done it. And now, here's the marching band to Nowhere, Fatface, and the Pitchou a Liar.

This episode of the Dan Levitard Show is presented by DraftKings. Draftkings, the Crown is yours.

Nice. You said that with a lot of force. I feel like that was a really good read, Greg. You're on fire so far.

I appreciate that.

Thanks, Zaz. Why is there a pole behind Tony from the start of our show today?

Juju has the poles. We used to do that at the end of the show.

No, it's that like-A actual pole. It's a pole more like a staff.

I'm glad. It's time to start holding people's feet to the fire here around this show. Everybody loves to talk about what they will and won't touch with a figurative 10-foot pole. Tony's back there talking about this, that, and the other. Everybody, that's what the show's about. But you know what? We go the extra mile. It's not a figurative 10-foot pole. We have a literal 10-foot pole. What will you touch with it or refuse to touch?

Tony's nine feet tall, I guess.

All right. How do we get this started then?

Well, let's do some basketball. Actually, should we hand that thing to Amine? Let's see how it's done. Give that one to Amine. Give it to Amine. He's the basketball guy, right?

He's holding the 10-foot pole.

He's holding a 10-foot pole. Be careful of the cameras and the lighting.

All There you go. All right.

All right, listen, people were very excited. They were very upset in Dallas a year ago when Luca went from the Mavs to the Lakers. And people, boundless optimism in Los Angeles when Luca arrived. Titles, not multiple titles, not one, not two. Luca now, there's some discord. People are unhappy with him. I mean, Luca will finish his time with the Lakers without winning a single ring. Will you touch that with the literal 10-foot pole. Where's the image? We need the image of old Luca there.

There he is. I will stab it. Stab it with a 10-foot pole because here's It's a deal as I gingerly put this thing down. All right, number one, winning championships is hard. We see it every year. People get hurt. People get suspended. People lose the motivation to play hard, apparently. Coaches mess up. So just the act of winning a championship is never a given in the NBA. Number two, Luka Donchis has not historically been a durable guy. No, I'm not doing a, let's support Nico Harrison's BS trade thing, but there was a kernel of truth in like, how do we know this guy is going to stay durable. Number three, he plays in the Western Conference. As we see every day, the Western Conference is cutthroat. You could be a Championship caliber team and never even get a chance. Why? Because the Western Conference. Number four, the biggest thing about the current CBA is nothing is permanent. Guys are getting traded left and right to say, Oh, he'll finish his Laker career with a championship. How long is his Laker career even going to be? He might be gone in a couple of years. Paul Hamels.

I interrupted to get that one in there.

So Amin would touch that with a 10-foot pole. So as a result, he's got the pole.

I'm stabbing it with the 10-foot pole. There's no fear in my heart when it comes to this.

I have another one then. Hand this one-off to Tony. Let's see how he feels about that. It came up yesterday when Greg Cody came in here and said that he had just finished off an egg and sausage. Egg and ham? Is that what you said?

I think it was egg and ham.

Egg and ham, croissant, which was a weird way to articulate what he had just eaten because generally people go meat and then the egg is the afterthought. Like ham and egg, yeah. Yeah, right.

But you did- Like a ham and egg-er.

But now what really caught my ear was that you mentioned ham, which is in my book, the best of all breakfast meats, underrated, though it may be, a bone in ham. Yeah, that's a good way to go.

A bone in ham.

Bone in ham with some over easy eggs on the side. Like a honey glazed ham? No, no. The kind you get at Christmas time, and then you put it in the fridge at night, and then when you wake up, your first deed is to shave off some nice pieces, then drop them in the pan. Yeah, it's a honey baked ham. Okay, a honey baked ham then. Yeah. It's better than bacon. You were there, right? A honey baked ham. You're erasing your voice. But Now you're- I am.

I like the one that crack a barrel.

Can we get a picture of a pig up here right now? Okay, here we have a pig. Oh, look at him.

Tony. He's going to taste so good.

If you can only consume the flesh of one beast to the exclusion of all others for the rest of your life, the correct beast to choose is swine. Will you touch that with a 10-foot pole?

I would, again, stab it with a 10-foot pole like I'm harponing a whale.

I would go like this, boom. Where's that camera? Right there. So you're going swine.

So pig would be the- No, I'm going a different one. Oh, so you would not touch it?

No, he'll touch the conversation. I don't think he knows how that's worked.

No, he's willing to talk about it.

Thank you, Jeremy.

He's touching the conversation with a 10-foot pole. He doesn't have to agree with your take. Correct.

No, but he's But the point is that swine is the best of all meats. It is not.

You would not touch that.

I would not.

It is the cow.

Make your case. The cow has so many different things.

I can cook steaks, I can get ribs, I can do burgers, I can do whatever.

You can get beef ribs, but you can really... Okay, if you really zero in there, you want beef ribs? Have you ever had a good beef? Of course, I had good. What are you talking about? They come out like a dinosaur. I know what it tastes like. I know what it tastes like. I know a pork rib is better. The pork rib is tiny. It's It's a tiny little rib.

The beef rib is this big. It comes out like the pole. Like the Flintstones. Exactly right. Like a dinosaur rib. That's what I like with a bark on top. I know you've had those. I love that bark. The bark is great. You have that. You have steaks of all kinds.

You can do sausage. Steaks of all kinds? Yes. Like two or three.

New York strip, Filet Mignon, ribite, T-bone, Churraco. Do you even know about Churraco?

You know about Churraco? I don't know about Churraco. I do know about burgers, and I'll miss them. I'll miss them something awful. But then again-You need a pork loin? I'm going to wrap myself up in pork chops.

Yeah, bacon.

And baby back ribs.

Beef, bacon is better.

Pork Billy. Manu, Paul.

Beef, bacon is the superior bacon.

Short ends. Short ends. Can I tell you- Short ends, Roy. You can get burn ends.

You can get burn ends on the cow.

Burn ends are so good.

Yeah, but that's off the brisket, though. That's beef.

That's beef, buddy. Yeah, baby. Guess what's for dinner?

Okay, I would go cow as well. But can I tell you, ham is great. How can you eat ham? Well, okay. I love ham.

Jews eat... I think that's an antiquated notion. Misnomer. No, it hasn't changed. It's not antiquated. I don't know anybody. I don't know very many Jewish people. I'll outside of Orthodox Jews- Look to your right. Who don't eat ham and haven't their whole lives.

I love ham. All right, don't get me wrong. I did not try ham. I never tasted ham for the first time until I was 16 years old. What the hell?

That's crazy. That seems impossible to me.

I'm growing up, people are having ham and cheese sandwiches, whatever else you're doing with your- And hold on, you're sitting there like, I wish I could have some. It never occurred to me even to have it. I just know this is not something that we have ever had in my house. Just like growing up, I never had soda in my house, okay? That's not true. This is something that we never had in my house, ham. And I know that we didn't have it in my house because we're Jewish, and it's just a thing that we don't eat. And I never, ever tried it before. Never I even thought about it, to be honest. All right? Then at 16 years old, my parents got divorced. I'm sorry. I'm all right.

Then your rebellious phase started.

My father moved out, and he got his own place, and I was at his place one time. He's making a sandwich, and he pulls ham, deli meat ham, out of the fridge. I'm like, What you got there, man? And he said, This is ham. I'm like, Ham? I'd never been in a house where there's ham. I'm going, Ham? Not that I was offended as a Jewish person. I was offended because I never had it before. And I go, I want to try that ham. And he gave me a piece. I'm like, This is delicious. And so now for the rest of my life, I love ham. Me and ham. So good.

Me and ham. Let me say it right now. Let me say it right now. As someone who does not eat pork, every time I've accidentally had pork, disgusting. Really? I've had pork chops on accident.

I've had ham on accident. I accidentally ate pork. How did that happen?

How did you slip and fall in a You had a pork chop one in your mouth?

I was somewhere where they were serving, and I took one bite out of it.

Because you're curious? No.

It was one of those- You ever did that blind up? No, it must have been dry. It's a preset. Hey, this It was the main course, and they brought it out. I'm like, Okay. I thought it was beef, and I took a bottle. Oh, this is disgusting. What's that? I was like, Oh, it's pork chopped. I'm like, Oh, that's gross. Bacon? I've had bacon. I was like, Oh, that's just gross. I didn't know bacon was in it. I took a bite in the burger. I was like, Oh, what is that? I was like, Oh, it's bacon. But you give me some beef bacon? Oh, my God. Beef bacon? Beef bacon is amazing.

I like turkey bacon.

I used to like turkey bacon until I had beef bacon. It was a little flat. Until I had beef bacon, and I was like, Holy hell, I've been living a lie. Josh Hamilton.

I mean, a lot of people would choose swine for their one beast because of bacon. That's how much people often love it. But again, you don't know Churraco, you don't get it.

You've never had a Churraco medium rare with a little chimichurri on top and a little lime squeezed on top. Also, you know why the whole bacon obsession is, right? Because Big Bacon put in billions of dollars into marketing to have bacon and milkshakes, bacon and donuts. This is a real thing. I'm not making it up.

My paste buds were duped. Is that your claim?

You were programmed by the pork sellers of America. Yes, the other white meat. Look at you. What else are you being programmed by? You're a pawn like those hockey players.

What else are you being programmed by, Dave Damosheck? Well, here's the other thing, I believe, is that even when it comes to... People will try to make a divide of sausage links versus sausage patty, and they'll say, Well, the virtue of the patty is when you want a breakfast sandwich. And I say, Even then, give me the link. Give me the splayed-out link on whatever your delivery bread is, if it's a bagel or an English muffin or just traditional pieces of bread. I'll take the link over the patty. Oh, I like the patty. There's no situation that I ever want the sausage Patty. I'm a link guy.

The link has to have a snap to it.

A snap. That's the difference. That's what you get from it. Right.

Okay, so are we touching it with the 10-foot pole?

Tony did not, or he said he shouldn't.

He's touching it. Just to change your opinion.

I got it right now, to give you the right opinion. Not touching it with a 10-foot pole means you say that like, I don't have this conversation. I'll have the conversation, and I'll be right.

So he touched it.

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Co/audio.

Limited time offer. Dan Levatard. Can I tell you something? I don't know, maybe like a month ago, and I decided to watch Pitch Clock, and I told Jeremy, Stugatz, this is a good show you're doing. This is the Dan Levatard show with the Stugatz. All right, who else can play? We got another one, Dave. Who else wants to?

Garret Poll, right? Did we do that one yet? Now you're playing the game. All right, you know what? If you want to stick with... You know what? Let's go back to sports here. There's a lot of buzz around. Conor McDavid is a big choker. Let's give it to Roy. And then this is led because This is Roy? Our favorite thing. Well, no, actually, I'm going to go football here. And because our favorite sport is pro-football, then we have to connect Connor McDavid or whoever's in the news to make it an NFL conversation. And so now it has become Josh Allen and Connor McDavid are comparable because neither guy is ever going to win a title. I think Zaz floated something interesting, though. Is Patrick Mahomes, let's give it to... We want Zazlo? Sure. I want to try. Let's give Zazlo the literal 10-foot pole here. Jay Pole. Here we go. Jonathan Zazlo. Patrick Mahomes is finished winning Lombardis. Will you touch that with a 10-foot pole?

You'll have this conversation?

Zaz is now holding the 10-foot pole.

We did nick Wright Dirty by showing the Patrick Mahomes picture, which is always funny. Okay, so pose me the question again. I was very focused on not dropping the pole.

Patrick Mahomes has finished winning Lombardis. As a player, at least.

We had a conversation only a few minutes ago about how difficult it is to win a championship. Patrick Mahomes has already won three of them, and he's been to, what, a total of five Super Bowl? He's lost two?

Right.

So I am touching this with a 10-foot pole. I'm all over this.

Think about if that actually happens. That is a bold stance to take, that Patrick Mahomes- Will not win another one. Well, Thirteen months ago, had he and his teammates beaten the Eagles, we would now talk about Patrick Mahomes as the greatest quarterback of all time. Which would have been ridiculous. Well, if you win three in a row, there's at least a case to be made, and then it would be the MJ and LeBron conversation.

The guy they're comparing him to has won seven.

I hear you. Like I said, it would be the Jordan and LeBron debate ongoing. Instead, I do think that it's plausible, at least, if not likely, that Patrick Mahomes has won his last Lombardi.

Yeah, that's why I'm touching it with this pool, Greg.

I see why you're touching that 10-foot pool. I think his reputation is sealed and made. He doesn't have to win a four.

He's going to the Hall of Fame, but it would be disappointing at this point, right?

It would be disappointing for him, but not for history, in my opinion.

I don't think it would be disappointing. Yeah, it'd be disappointing for him.

Because how many, and I don't know the answer to this, I suspect the number is five or less, how many quarterbacks have won three or more Super Rules?

It's five or less. It's Montana, Bradshaw, braided, Akemen. Akemen is the outlier in that, right?

I think Bradshaw is, no? Oh, come on.

Don't do that. Don't do that. I know you want to play that game, but obviously, Bradshaw made the mid-career pivot from a guy who turned around and handed the ball off, allegedly, to Franco and Rocky Blier, and the defense carried the day. Then they installed the Mel Blunt rule in 1978, and he leads the league in TD passes and wins the MVP. Don't Don't give me that job, Cody. Nicole Kidman.

You could make an argument that Terry Bradshaw is undes of the Hall of Fame. You could make that argument.

I can make a lot of arguments. It doesn't make him right.

He laughs in your face with that statement, Greg.

Terry Bradshaw's, and I don't have the stats in front of me. I'll pull the stats, Greg. Terry Bradshaw's career completion percentage is around 52% or something.

You know who else's career completion percentage is around there? Everyone else he played with. It was a different It was a different game. He was low for that era. No, he was not. If you're trying to measure him against 21st century QBs, everyone's going to lose out. Roger Stalback does not have Brock Purdy stats. Ryan Tannehill threw for more career yards than Joe Montana. Does that make him better than Montana? No. I mean, come on. Listen, you can take circumstantial generational stats and compare them with the '70s. And of course, it's the same reason that Steve Garvie isn't in the Hall of Fame and Dave Parker had to wait so long to get in because we try to apply modern standards to things that happened 40 years ago. It's unfair. Paul Feinbaum.

Great. To Greg's point, he was right on the money with the completion percentage of 51. 9 15%, 52% for his career.

But Dave, and I will ask you this, it's hard to compare errors because obviously the game is completely different.

We could establish a benchmark, a baseline of things that were bad in all errors.

Interceptions, turnovers, bad in all eras, correct? Sure.

70s, 80s, 90s today. Magic 102. 7. Terry had one...

Let me see.

I'm counting. Three...

Could have done this before.

No, because there's a lot of rows and numbers. He had four seasons of 14 years that he did not throw double-digit interceptions.

Also, they do a tournament at the end of every season. And then when they do that tournament, it's a playoff, they call it. Then they play the Super Bowl at the end of this thing, you see. And then they give out one trophy, only one trophy. I know people are empathetic. They're not society's greatest empath. That's me. But everybody's so empathetic about like, That's not the end all, be all, except that so long as the sport continues to conduct that tournament and award only one team, the trophy, it is going to be the most important thing of the season and who wins it. What are you saying here? In a league called the quarterback League, and when we all agree that the most difficult position in sports to play is quarterback, and when that guy is paid 20 times more than his teammates are paid, then obviously, whether or not you win those games is everything. Terry Bradshaw won four of them. What are you talking about? There's no case to be made. It's a ridiculous case to make that Terry Bradshaw not a Hall of Famer.

Okay, Trent Dilfer won a Super Bowl.

That's not remotely comprehensive.

Will you give me Yes. Will you give me, Terry Bradshaw is the least impressive of the three plus Super Bowl quarterbacks? No.

Troy Akemen. Troy Akemen. What? Troy Akemen is less impressive.

Doja put it on the poll. Who's less impressive? Troy Akemen or Terry Bradshaw? Not Kerry Bradshaw. I'm going to say Kerry Bradshaw. Dave, Terry Bradshaw had more interception seasons of 20 plus than he did single digits.

For a long, long time, there was only one person who threw a fourth-quarter go-ahead TD pass in the Super Bowl. Deep shots, too, at that. Terry Bradshaw did it not once, but twice. He did it. What's a crazy stat, though, to point to how different the errors are, the first 300-yard passing game of Bradshaw's career, he gets drafted in 1970. First 300-yard passing game of his career, Super Bowl 13 in January of 1979.

That's why. Through the love of God, So I wanted to mention something that I saw yesterday.

I was looking at it on Twitter, and literally right after I was watching it, I got a message from Chris sending me the exact video that I was watching. And so spring training is going on right now. And by the way, I have such a hard time with baseball. Where like, baseball has tried to be really progressive. Major League Base has tried to be progressive. They're changing rules, and they're trying to stick with the times. But I have a very difficult time every year knowing what rules changes are actually taking place. I never know how many teams are in the playoffs in Major League Base. How many play-off teams are they letting in this year? I never know, all right? But I guess credit to Major League Base for trying to become more progressive. And one of those things is they're installing, I guess, the ABS, the automated balls and strikes challenge system. So my first question here, before I get to the video I was watching about Chris immediately notified me at the same time I was watching it was, is this, and I guess Jeremy is the right person to direct this question to, is this a thing for sure at the Major League level this year?

They are doing ABS challenges. Is it Challenges? Yeah. And is it Unlimited?

What is it? I believe it starts with two. And so long as you get it right, you can continue. If you get both right? I don't think it's if you get both right. I think if you get it right, it stays it two. I can check on that and correct myself if I have that wrong to begin with.

But it's at the Major League This is on the same level this year.

Yeah, and it's for your team, right? It's not per player. So it is determining circumstance no different than another challenge in another sport.

And the only people who can trigger the challenge is the pitcher, the catcher, or the batter, right? They got to pat their head or something.

Wait, two total, Tashay, for the game?

It's two total, but as long as you get them right, you keep them.

Interesting. Okay.

So it sounds like we got that down, all right?

And now they're taking away the square, though, right?

Isn't that the- No, the square stays, but They're taken away on the television broadcast marking where the ball landed.

No, not even that, actually. What they're doing is- Glad we're talking this out.

Yeah, no way. It never matters.

I never know. Going into every year with MLB, I don't know what rule changes are in effect.

The only different... Well, so the rules for the last couple of years have been the same. But when you look at the way it's going to display on the screen, all that the difference is, is they'll even show you where the ball lands. But it used to be that when a pitch is a strike, It goes green or red. It would go green or red, or in some cases it would fill up. They're not doing that anymore. Got you. And that's a result of they just don't want teams to be able to see it if they're going to challenge.

Yeah, whatever. That's fine. I know what it's a ball on a strike. Anyway, yesterday there was a game.

His poor umpire.

Well, I mean, it's his job. But yeah, this poor umpire where he kept getting checked or challenged for ball and strike calls. The play happens, the pitch comes in, whoever challenged it. Then the umpire, he sees the challenge, and he immediately steps aside five spots. It's almost like he's now on trial. He has to step aside all on his own. He's isolated now. He's standing there by himself.

And report on himself, too. The findings, he's the one who has to say what they were.

He's on trial now.

I was wrong.

For everyone to see if he's going to be innocent or guilty. Five consecutive challenges. The challenge was successful, and he had to announce that he was wrong. I'll tell you, I don't know how this is going to be a positive thing.

No. They're going to have to start recruiting people to be umpires because who would want to be an umpire when you're second-guessed routinely?

I got great news. We have their replacement. It's called the video cameras.

Well, here's the thing. I like the human error involved in officiating. I think we should live with the human error. But if we're not going to live with the human error, the occasional human error, make a decision. Either make it all human judgment or make it all electronic. To quit waffling in between with the challenge.

I'm with you on that.

I don't know if I totally agree with you because this ABS system works so quickly that you issue the challenge. It happens within seconds. It's like tennis with the line judge. This happens so quickly, and as long as they're right, it continues on. But the way this is ultimately headed, more likely than not, is you have a human back there who is calling balls and strikes, but based off of a notification that they're getting if it's a ball or if it's a strike.

Who wants to be that fool? Are you in a union and are you paid? Because I would want to do it. Your computer gods are telling you that was a strike. Strike.

Guys, but we have to do something because it is the dumbest thing in all of sports that the last couple of seasons, I'm at my house on my couch, and I see that it's a ball or a strike. And this umpire in the game that matters is just getting it wrong.

We can't have this technology and not use it.

I'm all for not making them all robots, but just the balls and strike thing. You either have to do this change or take away that box from fans.

You want to get my blood boiling with sports the last couple of years? Clearly. I like this, Chris Kelly. It is very fired up.

I'm watching it and it's just like, How are we here? It is the dumbest thing in all of sports. Find me something dumber the last couple of seasons than a guy on my couch knowing it's a ball or a strike, but the guy officiating the game doesn't. I haven't seen Chris this fired up since he had to eat the Chick-fil-A chicken That got me fired. Greg was very excited, by the way.

Who's the guy on your couch? You said there's a guy on your couch who knows.

Who's the guy on your couch? My friend, Fred.

Oh, Fred. Wow. You're becoming your father.

That is you becoming Greg right before our eyes.. No, not at all. Why? Why is it the app with which I can't really do anything wrong? Wow. That means, with it, everything is safe? Yeah, exactly. Why is it the app that understands you? Because the app is your whole life. Work, children, partners. You can't do anything wrong. That's right. Nice. It doesn't feel like a steward. Steuern erledigt? Safe. With Why so Steuer? Now, test it.

Dan Lebetard.

You ♪ How you love that catchphrase ♪ Bad news for opposing teams in the Triple A.

Stugatz.

♪ These are smiles till the bloods are clutch again ♪ Clutch again, clutch again ♪ Clutch again ♪ Clutch again ♪ This is the Dan Levatard show with the Stugats. So you guys know Atlanta Braves pitcher Chris Sayle. He's a great pitcher. Here is Chris- Sayle. Here is Chris Sayle. Now, we're going to hold him You're holding this, right? Because this is on the record. We're holding you to this, Chris Sayle. He is saying he will never challenge.

I will never challenge a pitch. I will never do it. I won't do it. Why? Because Because I'm not an umpire. That's their job. That's fair enough. I'm a starting pitcher. I've never called balls and strikes in my life. Plus, I'm greedy, and I know that.

I think they're all strikes, especially...

The catchers nowadays, the way they catch the ball, the way they receive, they make them all look like strikes. Again, I'm a starting pitcher, and I'm greedy. I like pitches that are on the corner that might be a little off. In the heat of moment, especially, you throw a good pitch, you got Murf or Baldy or whoever back there, and they catch it the right way. They make a lot of balls look like strikes, and I don't want to take away one of those challenges that might be needed later on in the game. And I've dealt with it before.

Across all games in my entire career, there's been balls called strikes and strikes called balls, and you just deal with it.

He started out like, You're crazy. And then as he explained-He started to make more sense. I'm like, Oh, this actually ties into something on the NBA side that we've talked about. I think, Jeremy, we talked about. Well, no, it's about challenges. One of the most annoying things if you're watching NBA basketball right now-I know what you're going to say.

I'm a thousand % with you.

Ball goes out of bounds and players instantly go… It's like two seconds.

Three minutes into the game.

Yeah. Oh, my God. They're twirling their finger. They're just twirling their finger. Oh, you got to go in the coaches. Review it. We came up with the solution. It was like, you know what?

But some coaches do review it.

But this is the solution. The solution is to do a baseball, which is, you know what? It's like a timeout. Any player can call it. You know what? It doesn't matter if you don't have one or not. No takebacks. No takebacks. We'll do it. If you don't have any, it's a technical foul. We'll get rid of overnight all of this right here.

You're talking about the human element from the players. Yes, of course, they're in the heat of competition. What you're also advocating for is vibes over science.

No, I'm not.

We have the evidence. It's right there for all of our eyes. Like Chris Cody just said, we all can see it. It has been laid bare that they are frauds, that we're assuming that human beings can stand behind and decide 97 miles per hour, yeah, no, that was in the strike zone. When we all have- What about the curves? We have the technology available for us. It's right there for us. Why are we pretending that that doesn't exist? To put it on the players is to keep us in purgatory to say, Well, that's you to have to challenge. If you don't think that was the right call, then challenge it, player. And the The reason Chris Sal doesn't want to challenge it is because he's being political. In the here and now, if he says, Oh, yeah, I'm going to challenge a lot of these umpires. They don't know what they're talking about. They're going to call more balls and strikes against him. You're saying the umpires are like, I like this guy. There's a relationship. That's interesting. The umpire is literally hovering over him. So he's planting seeds. The whole time, the catcher knows that if I start challenging him all the time, it's going to a fraught relationship versus me saying, You're doing a great job, ump.

Wait, okay. All right. Interesting. Now I'm with you. Much like Chris Sayle, you started, I thought you were out of your mind. Like a crazy person. But then as you started to land the plane, you're telling me, No, if I'm out here in support of the umpires, the umpires will be more like, Oh, he's one of the good ones. He doesn't question me. He doesn't second-guess me a bunch of times. Of course, that's true. It is a strike. Guess what? Vibes over stats is such a great place to be. Who wants lasers and technology? I want vibes. That's why we're here, Dave, because we want the vibes of sports. No one wants to do math on a calculator. We want to see drama play out.

Nothing slows sports more than a challenge. Base saved itself from drowning by quickening the pace of its slow game. Now, they're voluntarily inserting something that slows the game more. It's ridiculous. But you need it. No, you don't need it. You put up with the occasional human error. Instead of a pitch being a quarter of an inch outside and having a replay or an ABS system to tell us whether it was a ball or a strike.

More straw man stuff, Greg Cody. It doesn't have to take 11 minutes. When they say, Well, red challenge flag on the field, you know you're in for a big wait. It doesn't have to be that way. When they show the replay, do you not know Greg Cody? I know. I know immediately. I see it in real-time very often. Why? Because I'm watching on HDTV. It's not in front of me. I have a clear image, literally, than the referee has of the play. I see in real-time, if I need the double down of the replay, by the time I see two replays, I'm like, Yeah, that ball hit the ground. I know that. There's no reason. And by the way, what proves that I'm right about that is the way... What did they call it this past season, the expedited review or whatever? That proves that I am right about that. They would just be like, Yeah, no, you should move along. That ball was incomplete. And they would just say, expedited review, That was incomplete. You're right. There's no reason it has to take 15 minutes of your life.

Even if it's expedited, it's still too slow in an unnecessary intrusion.

Unnecessary.

I'm on my couch and I know it's a ball, but this umpire who's affecting the game doesn't.

This one's quick. You're just fine with that.

That's one of the many reasons why- It could be a buzzer. That's one of the many reasons why it's advantageous to watch a game from your couch rather than in a stadium, unfortunately. But all I'm against is the challenge system Make a decision, sports. Go with human beings making the calls with the risk of a human error, or go with all technology, not in between. The challenge system is what I don't agree with. Embarrassing an umpire because he missed a call occasionally. I don't agree with you.

Greg, you and I are at the exact opposite-Different garages. Yes, different garages indeed. I feel like Colonel Kurtz. I feel like Brando at the end of Apocalypse now when it comes to officials. They're frauds. It's been laid bare with video that they don't know that they miss calls all the time. They're airing boys sent by grocery clerks to collect a bill by the league office. We have to support their jive, their jive explanations. Like, well, it would take too long. It would bog the game down. It doesn't have to. It doesn't have to. We could instantly know. Yet, strike, strike. The only reason we don't, I think, A big part of it, at least when it comes to umpires, home plate umpires, is it would visually be jarring for us, the fans, to not see an umpire back there. It will be a weird day when it's just the catcher.

I want to see if we could do a robot balls and strike thing right here. I want to play this and see if this was a ball or a strike.

If I were to ask you right now, what are the three breaking news that come to your mind immediately that you used?

Yeah, well said.

That's bullshit, man.

I think it's a strike.

You can't just take any subject matter we're talking about and then apply it to that clip.

Do you think it's a ball or strike? Do you think it's a ball or strike? Just outside for me. What do you think that?

You know what? I'm going to go with that being a ball. Did you touch that sound with it? I didn't know what that means, the ball.

I will say the one guy who's going to...

And by the way, like Major League- I'm going with it a bald- Major League umpires are on average write about balls and strikes.

It wasn't that funny, I mean.

93% of the time.

Exactly.

Which is a good note. But if anything, that proves Dave's side of the point, which is the human part of this is correct the overwhelming majority of the time. So the times where it's wrong, especially late in games, it's so advantageous that there's now this system that within a few seconds we can get it right. But here's what I'm going to tell you. I believe that the guy who is going to benefit the most from this system is Jazz Chisholm Jr. Because everything about Jazz is-Black. Yep. Disliked by umpires. That's what Jeremy said. And he is someone who is uber-confident when he walks into the batter's box. And I have watched At bat, after at bat, after at bat, after at bat, where he has a great eye, where he knows that ball is just off the plate.

Most of them do.

And he is called for a strike. Not just because most of them I'm talking about a guy who- He lets the umpire know that he knows. Not only does he let them know, at a disproportionate rate, you see those pitches that are balls called for strikes, and he's looking around like, What are we talking about? I'm telling you, Jazz is going to benefit in a big way from this challenge system.

Zaz with the pitch. The windup, here it is.

The packer's winner, the bear's lose. So going back to Jazz, this is actually interesting. What happens when Jazz Chisholm is up to bat? And unlike Chris Sayle, Zaz Chisholm will challenge. And Zaz Chisholm, it's called a strike. He knows it's a ball. So he challenges, taps his head, his helmet, and the umpire is on trial all by himself, standing right over there. It comes back that it was a ball. And what if Jazz just got this shit-eating grin, just staring? What's going to happen then?

Well, the other element to also do is if you are an emotional ball player and you say, Oh, I know that that was the wrong call, challenge that the skipper is going to be like, What do you do? We want to save those. It shouldn't be a strategy. There shouldn't be an element of strategy of how you deploy your challenges, to deploy being right. It's a crazy It's an easy place, like I say, purgatory that we live in, and it's self-imposed, or league-imposed.

One of the many things I hate about the challenge in the ABS system is the idea that, theoretically, the challenge can happen on the second pitch of an at with nobody on base in the third ending. In other words, it's a meaningless pitch.

Well, but that's why the manager has to tell his... There has to be a rule set that each team has, where it's like, We don't challenge unless it's after the season.

I would assume that there will be certain teams with certain players who might have the green light at all times. But I'll ask Clayton McCola the next time I'm at spring training, Hey, what is your rule going to be team-wide? Are there going to be certain guys who have the ability to do this whenever they want? Or is your catcher going to have the green light whenever he wants? Or is this going to be the type of thing where, Hey, we'll only make a challenge if there's already a runner on base because we think we can produce a run or someone in scoring position, or after a certain I'm winning. I'll ask that question so we can get the answer from a Major League manager. Zaz with the 2-1.

You want to know what were the kids doing?

So going back to Amin's original point, it It makes me nuts when these NBA coaches several... Yes, it's one thing for the player to do the bullshit, okay? And by the way, I'm with you that if the player does it, it should automatically trigger the challenge. But if that happens, he's going to come up with another slide, going like this means challenge. They're going to come up with another signal. But anyway, why do these coaches challenge an out-of-bounds play four minutes into the first quarter? Are they stupid?

It's because you've got a player that You're just trying to... It's politics. You're trying to get your main guy to be engaged in the game. And what it takes is just like people say, Why did they post that dude up as the first play? He's terrible in the pose.

You're talking about DeAndre Ayton, right?

I'm not naming names. I'm just saying You do that because you know that'll keep the guy engaged for the rest of the game. Saz and the pitch.

He took the buckle.

Mike, you know I have one rule to live by, right?

Don't place parlay days on multiple long shots. Don't say a game is one when it hasn't hit triple zero.

Always drink your Jägermeister ice cold. That's the rule. Everything else is merely a suggestion.

Everything else? Everything else.

Wearing clean underwear every day?

Well, that's just a personal decision.

Brushing your teeth?

Obviously smart, but not a rule.

Never PP on an electric fence.

Okay, maybe there are two rules, but the one that is 100% that I insist on completely, Jägermeister must be drunk ice cold. Or don't drink it at all.

Damn, that's cold.

Exactly. You're finally starting to get it.

Drink responsibly. Jägermeister L'Core, 35% alcohol by volume, imported by Mass Jägermeister US, White Plains, New York.